2027: APC benefits from Atiku, Obi presidential ambitions – Keyamo - Vanguard News

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has disclosed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would prefer former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, to participate in the 2027 presidential election to prevent opposition parties from uniting under a single political platform.

Keyamo said having both opposition figures on the ballot would serve the ruling party’s political interest by preventing opposition supporters from consolidating their strength behind one candidate.

Speaking on Friday during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, the minister made the clarification while responding to questions about his earlier comment that heaven would not fall if Atiku Abubakar was absent from the 2027 presidential ballot following the leadership crisis in the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

He said, “It is in our interest that Atiku Abubakar and Obi run so that all opposition will not gather under one umbrella.”

Keyamo, however, dismissed allegations that the Federal Government or the APC was using state institutions to frustrate opposition parties, insisting that the judiciary was responding to complaints by members of the ADC who felt deprived of their rights during the party’s leadership crisis.

He argued that the controversy was being presented as an attempt to prevent a major opposition figure from contesting, while the grievances of other party members who claimed to have been displaced were being overlooked.

The minister said, “The judiciary is acting on genuine complaints of Nigerians who are pained. Nigerians who are deprived of their rights in ADC. The judiciary is not closing its eyes to those people who were displaced. The judiciary is not looking at the names of a big man called Atiku Abubakar and David Mark.”

On his assertion that Atiku’s absence from the 2027 presidential ballot would not cause any major consequence, Keyamo said he was speaking from the APC’s experience in Zamfara State, where a court ruling several years ago led to the removal of all the party’s elected candidates, including the governor, deputy governor, senators and members of the National and State Assemblies.

He noted that the development did not cause the country to collapse, which informed his position on the possibility of Atiku being excluded from the 2027 race.

He said, “Heaven did not fall when the same court sacked all our candidates in Zamfara a few years ago. Not just who were candidates who had won elections. Governor, the Deputy Governor, all members of the House of Assembly, all the Senators, and all the members of the House of Representatives. I’m talking from top to bottom. They were all sacked.”

Keyamo said the APC accepted the decisions at the time and questioned why similar judicial outcomes involving opposition parties should now be portrayed as evidence of political interference.

He maintained that the APC had accepted the decisions of the courts without alleging that the judiciary was being used against it.

“The rhetoric being promoted now is that the opposition candidate and opposition party can never in their life lose a case in court, except there is interference.”

The minister also rejected suggestions that President Bola Tinubu was responsible for the internal crisis in the ADC, arguing that the president had no involvement in the party’s internal affairs.

He said, “President Tinubu didn’t wake up one morning and tell Atiku Abubakar to go and invade a party owned by Nigerians and hijack the party. Did he tell him? He was in his house. He doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

Keyamo further insisted that opposition politicians should pursue their grievances through the courts rather than pressure the judiciary to reach decisions that would accommodate their political interests.

He said, “So allow the judiciary to do their work. Don’t blackmail them.”

The minister also dismissed allegations that the APC had sponsored the ADC’s internal crisis, arguing that the individuals involved in the dispute were original members of the party and not people recruited by the ruling party to destabilise it.

He said the APC had no responsibility or obligation to help the opposition resolve its internal leadership crisis, insisting that opposition parties must organise themselves without expecting assistance from the ruling party.

He maintained that neither the law nor the Constitution required the APC to intervene in the affairs of other political parties.

The minister said the APC would rather watch the opposition remain divided, describing its disunity as an advantage to the ruling party.

“We have no responsibility. They should go and organise themselves. I’m taking a cue from what the president said on the floor of the National Assembly.

He said, I will not aid you either. That it is to my eternal happiness to see you in disarray. There is no law, no way, no constitution that says we should assist you to organise yourself. The more you are in disarray, the better for us. We will just watch you from a distance. “We will not have a hand in it,” Keyamo said.

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